JOHN GLENN, 1ST AMERICAN TO ORBIT EARTH, DIES AT 95 - John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth and a former U.S. senator, has died. He was 95.
Glenn died at James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he was hospitalized for more than a week, according to the John Glenn School of Public Affairs.
He was the third U.S. astronaut in space, and became an American hero when he became the first to get into orbit back in 1962.
"Godspeed, John Glenn," fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter radioed just before Glenn blasted off from Cape Canaveral.
More(Source: KABC-TV - Dec 9)

JAXA LAUNCHES H-IIB ROCKET WITH HTV-6 RESUPPLY MISSION TO STATION - In what was the fifth orbital launch of December, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the HTV-6 automated resupply spacecraft for the International Space Station atop their H-IIB rocket. Liftoff from the Tanegashima Space Center occurred at 22:26:47 Japan Standard Time (13:26:47 GMT – 08:26:47 EST) on 9 December, kicking off a four-day rendezvous dance with the ISS. HTV-6 (H-II Transfer Vehicle 6) is the sixth craft in a fleet of one-time use uncrewed resupply vehicles that serve JAXA’s commitments to the International Space Station (ISS). More(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Dec 9)

SPACEX LOSES SATELLITE LAUNCH ORDER DUE TO SCHEDULE DELAYS - Due to scheduling delays, one of SpaceX’s customers has decided to go with a different rocket. British satellite operator Inmarsat announced today that it will launch one of its satellites on a European Ariane 5 rocket, instead of on one of SpaceX’s vehicles like it had originally planned. On short notice, Inmarsat was able to secure a mid-2017 launch for the spacecraft — a communication satellite for the European Aviation Network (EAN). “We are delighted with [the] flexibility that Arianespace has shown in being able to provide a launch slot that enables us to place our European Aviation Network S-band satellite in orbit by mid-2017,” Michele Franci, CTO of Inmarsat, said in a statement. More(Source: The Verge - Dec 9)

JAXA HTV-6 BOUND FOR INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, GETS TV COVERAGE FROM NASA - Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch its H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-6 on Friday, December 9 at 8:26 a.m. EST (10:26 p.m. Japan time) from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. The Japanese cargo ship's launch to the International Space Station (ISS) and arrival at the orbiting laboratory will be live streamed through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) official television channel and website from December 9 to 13. NASA TV coverage of the launch will begin at 8:00, an official press release from the space agency stated. More(Source: Nature World News - Dec 8)

RESOURCE-MAPPING SATELLITE BLASTS OFF FROM INDIA - India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle delivered to orbit Wednesday the country’s third space mission dedicated to mapping natural resources, closing out a record year for Indian launch activity.
The Resourcesat 2A satellite rode the PSLV’s 38th flight into orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island, India’s coastal spaceport on the shores of the Bay of Bengal about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of the industrial city of Chennai.
The 36-hour countdown began Monday, and ground crews filled the PSLV’s second and fourth stages with their liquid propellants Tuesday. The rest of the rocket’s propulsion system consumed pre-packed solid fuel. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 8)

U.S. LAUNCHES ITS HIGHEST CAPACITY MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE - An antenna-covered communications spacecraft that will bring more bandwidth and capacity to the U.S. military’s global information grid than any single satellite ever before was successfully launched Wednesday atop a Delta 4 rocket.
United Launch Alliance delivered the Wideband Global SATCOM satellite No. 8 into space for the U.S. Air Force following a 42-minute flight of the powerful rocket.
The two-stage Delta 4 was fueled during an uneventful afternoon countdown, then lit its hydrogen-fed main engine and four side-mounted solid-propellant boosters to depart Cape Canaveral right on schedule at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT). More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 8)

SLOW-SCAN TELEVISION TRANSMISSIONS SCHEDULED FROM ISS - Slow-scan television (SSTV) transmissions from the International Space Station (ISS) are scheduled for December 8-9. The SSTV images will be transmitted from RS0ISS on 145.800 MHz FM as part of the Moscow Aviation Institute MAI-75 Experiment, using the Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver in the ISS Service Module.
MAI-75 activities have been scheduled on December 8, 1235-1800 UTC, and December 9, 1240-1740 UTC. More(Source: ARRL - Dec 7)

ISS PACKET DIGIPEATER IS NOW ON 70 CENTIMETERS - The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) packet digipeater aboard the ISS has been active for several days now on 437.550 MHz. The UHF frequency means users will have to make adjustments for Doppler on both uplink and downlink.
The change to 70 centimeters comes in the wake of a problem that has sidelined the Ericsson VHF transceiver, so the UHF model has been put into service. The digipeater operates just as it did when it was on its former 145.825 MHz frequency. More(Source: ARRL - Dec 7)

SPACEX TO LAUNCH 10-SATELLITE CONSTELLATION FOR IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS ON DECEMBER 16 - SpaceX, the US-based private space agency is all geared up to launch a 10 satellite-constellation belonging to Iridium Communications, a global satellite communications company on December 16.
SpaceX will be deploying its Falcon 9 rocket to launch the new satellite constellation that is part of the company's NEXT satellite network, Aerospace-Technology reported.
A successful launch will give boost to SpaceX and its ability to undertake such activities in the future. However the launch is dependent on US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) approval. More(Source: International Business Times - Dec 7)

NASA JUST COMMISSIONED A SPACECRAFT THAT CAN REFUEL SATELLITES ALREADY IN ORBIT - NASA has just commissioned a new type of spacecraft that will be able to refuel satellites while they’re still in orbit around Earth. Dubbed the Restore-L Spacecraft Bus, the vehicle will act like a traveling gas station, by meeting up with probes in orbit and filling up the satellites’ tanks. Such a spacecraft will make it possible for satellites to operate a whole lot longer in space than they were originally supposed to.
NASA won’t be making the entire Restore-L spacecraft on its own, though. That job is going to California-based satellite builder Space Systems Loral (SSL). More(Source: The Verge - Dec 7)

ISIS TO LAUNCH SPACE STATION CALLED ISISSS TO KEEP AN EYE ON HEAVEN FOR ITS SOLDIERS :) - [Satire] ISIS has launched yet another of their venture this year, making them one of the famous multi-faceted terrorist corporations in the world. They’ve had their hands on many things, such as prostitution, trafficking of girls, chemical warfare, executions, genocide etc to name a few. Now they want to reach the pinnacle of scientific exploration. They have launched the ISISSS, Islamic State of Iraq&Syria’s Space Station. More(Source: Firstpost (satire) - Dec 7)

ISRO TO LAUNCH REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE ON DECEMBER 7 - Capping a year of successful launches, Indian Space Research Organisation is all set to launch PSLV-C36 carrying remote sensing satellite RESOURCESAT-2A from the spaceport of Sriharikota on December 7, the space agency said today.
The 44.4 metre tall PSLV C36 is expected to place the 1,235 kg RESOURCESAT-2A into an 827km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit in about 18 minutes after lift off.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C36, in its 38th flight, will blast off at 10.24 AM from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, about 125 km from Chennai, ISRO said on its website. More(Source: NDTV - Dec 6)

GOOGLE'S SATELLITE TIMELAPSES SHOW THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT OUR PLANET - The image of the Earth from space is so seared into human consciousness that it is hard to conceive what it was like to live without the picture of our planet as a blue sphere that we all now carry in our minds.
The first photographs of the Earth’s surface seen from 100 miles were taken in 1947. By 1968, the famous Earthrise image photographed by the crew of Apollo 8 framed our planet as a beautiful oasis in black space. More(Source: The Guardian - Dec 6)

FAVORABLE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WEDNESDAY’S DELTA 4 LAUNCH FROM FLORIDA - Air Force meteorologists are expecting good weather to launch the Delta 4 rocket with a military communications satellite Wednesday evening from Cape Canaveral.
Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance booster carrying the Wideband Global SATCOM 8 spacecraft is scheduled to occur at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT). The launch window will remain open for 49 minutes.
The chances of allowable weather stand at 80 percent, with only a slight concern for cloud thickness during the launch opportunity. More(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 5)

ISRO TO LAUNCH RESOURCESAT-2A ON DEC 7 - Indian Space Research Organisation will launch Earth observation satellite Resourcesat-2A on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C36) on December 7.
PSLV-C36 carrying the 1235kg Resourcesat-2A will lift off from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, situated around 100km from Chennai, at 10.24am. It will be PSLV's 38th flight.
Eighteen minutes later, the satellite will be placed in an 817km polar sun-synchronous orbit.
Resourcesat-2A is a remote sensing satellite intended for resource monitoring. It is a follow-on mission to Resourcesat-1 and Resourcesat-2, which were launched in 2003 and 2012 respectively. More(Source: Times of India - Dec 5)

PICTURE THIS... CANON ELECTRONICS GETS SPACEY - Engineers from Canon Electronics, which is a unit of the Japanese imaging devices maker, have joined a team led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that is building what will be the world's smallest satellite launch vehicle, about the size of a utility pole—the company decided to assist Japan in manufacturing a low-cost "mini-rocket" for future satellite launches—a number of private companies in Japan are working to help build the nation's space industry to greater prominence.
A JAXA SS-520 research rocket launch.
The company's experience designing and manufacturing devices, such as digital cameras, should help the JAXA team select the best rocket parts as well as make key control instruments smaller and lighter. More(Source: SatNews Publishers - Dec 4)

NEW SATELLITE PHOTOS WILL DETAIL YOUR WORLD VIEW - Your view of the world through Google Maps is about to get a little better as a new satellite starts beaming down imagery of our planet.
DigitalGlobe, which supplies imagery to Google Maps and several other customers, has begun gathering data from the new WorldView-4 satellite the company launched on November 11. Its first public image, taken on November 26, is of Japan's Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Satellite imagery, once only affordable to military and intelligence agencies with huge budgets and a powerful desire to peer at world affairs, now has become a relatively routine part of industry. More(Source: CNET - Dec 3)

INCREDIBLE FOOTAGE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION REVEALS LIFE INSIDE PYONGYANG THAT IS SO CLE - EERIE video filmed from Earth’s orbit has provided a rare peek into secretive and paranoid North Korea – showing weirdly empty streets.
Filmed using an Iris camera from the International Space Station (ISS), it lifts the lid from above on the peculiar capital city, Pyongyang. The video was released by UrtheCast.
For a large city - apparently home to 3.2million - hardly anyone seems to be walking or driving about. More(Source: The Sun - Dec 3)

RUSSIAN CARGO SHIP FAILURE WON'T ENDANGER SPACE STATION CREW, NASA SAYS - The six astronauts living aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will be OK despite a Russian cargo ship's failure to make it to orbit Thursday (Dec. 1), NASA officials said.
The uncrewed Progress 65 freighter fell back to Earth shortly after liftoff Thursday, apparently doomed by a problem with the third stage of its Soyuz rocket. The spacecraft and its 2.6 tons (2.36 metric tons) of food, equipment and other supplies burned up in the atmosphere over southern Russia, Russian space officials said.
But there's no danger that crewmembers of the station's current Expedition 50 will go hungry or thirsty, according to NASA officials. More(Source: Space.com - Dec 3)